Tall claims are being made for the nuclear arms reduction treaty - the New START - that the US and Russia signed last month. But the fact is that by 2020, three decades after the end of the cold war, the two countries will still have 11,000 nuclear weapons. The implementation of New START must also be in some doubt because of US plans to place potentially offensive missile defence systems in east Europe at Russia's doorstep, ostensibly to thwart any missile attack by Iran.